Creation: I believe that people were created when God made Adam and Eve. The purpose of our creation was to inhabit the Earth. The Earth was made because God created it.
Theodicy: I believe that God made suffering so that people would be more grateful for what they have. Without suffering life would be perfect, and no one would be satisfied with what they have. Even though no one likes to suffer and it is horrible, I believe that it was made by God so that we would be happier with what we have and overall happier with our lives and our existence.
Destiny: I believe that after we die, most of the people on Earth will go to Heaven if we have not committed any sins. For those of us who have committed sins, we will not go to Heaven instead we will go to Hell. God will grant some people forgiveness for their sins if they ask, unless the sin is so horrible it is unforgivable such as murder.
Ethics: People should live as they want to be treated. They should follow the 10 commandments and be nice to one another. We are all here for a long period of time, and I believe that we should try and make it as pleasant as possible if we wish to live in harmony. We should take care of the Earth and of one another so that we have happier, healthier, and better lives
Me: What was the world like before you created life?
Brahma: it was incredibly dark and lifeless. It was almost sad.
Me: Why did you create life on earth?
Brahma: because the world seemed empty and boring, I decided it was time for a change.
Me: what was it like making your many pilgrimages to the earth?
Brahma: It was different every time I went down, some times were better than others.
5 minute meditation each day HW:
First Day (Friday): I found my 5 minute meditation to be a bit difficult for the first minute or two. After I had settled down from the hustle and bustle of the day, I began thinking about why Mrs. Ortega assigned us this homework. After another minute, I decided that it was because, like the video had said, we needed only 5 minutes a day to sit down and live in the present moment. I thought that that would be very hard, considering our minds don't have an off switch and we can't just automatically stop thinking. Our minds jump from thought to thought, just as mine had been doing right then. I was actually thinking about thinking. I realized, as my time came to an end, that maybe it would be good to do this everyday, if I could remember.
Second Day (Saturday): Today I found it incredibly hard for myself to sit and think for 5 straight minutes. My brothers were at a lacrosse tournament and my family had made me come along, so I ended up doing my homework later than I usually do. As I sat in the hotel room quietly, I began thinking about competitions. I thought about when I was little, and I did gymnastics, I had always wanted to be better than every other little girl in my class. Even though I hadn't particularly enjoyed the sport, I wanted to be the best at it. Even now, when I do some sports or academics I want to be the best, and I find it frustrating when I'm not. I often try and compete with my older brother in academics, even though its not necessary. I enjoy winning, just like most people. I thought about why. I couldn't come up with a reason as to why. I guess I had just always liked it, and it gave me something to strive for. Before I knew it, my time was up, and I had to go back to the business of my day.
Third Day (Sunday): This 5 minute meditation session came very easily to me today. For the first minute I thought, "ok well what will I think up today?". After trying to involve my mind in something and attempt to focus, I realized there was one topic that was constantly coming back up to the surface. It was the topic of people. Particularly people my age. I thought about a certain few, and then realized that I had no interest in wasting my time thinking about them. Instead, I decided to think about all of us in general. I thought about why we do some of the things that we do, or why we act rude, nice, badly, etc. Adults always say that we are trying to "figure ourselves out", which I can see, but in some ways, I really don't. We already know who we kind of are. Just then, I thought something along the lines of this: "I am Sarah Munger, I like sports, school, hanging out with my friends, going to parties and things like that. Your typically average teenager. But then I thought about the unique things about myself: I like to go fishing, I like playing cards and playing with my brothers; I'm a bit loud, I talk a lot, and I like to dance." I am different, and so is everyone in the world. So I reconsidered what adults had said about us "figuring out who we are". Because in a way, we are all figuring out new things about ourselves, not just teenagers. And maybe we'll never find out all of the sides of us, maybe they are to forever remain an enigma. Finally as my last assigned meditation time came to a close, I thought that I should do this more often. I found that it helped me clear my mind and realize that things are a lot easier than they seem.
Journal #4
I do not think that any commandments should be removed or altered, because most of them are rules that should be followed in everyday life. However, I do think there should be a commandment against lying, in order to inspire people not to lie to one another. But, this is my religion so I could not imagine it changed, because the 10 Commandments as they are, are very important to me.
Journal #5
I think the parable that most applies to a time in my life is the Good Samaritan. When I was little, my parents always taught my brothers and I to treat others how we would want to be treated. In the Good Samaritan, the third man stops and takes care of the victim of the robbers. In turn, he will be rewarded in Heaven for this because he did the right thing, whereas the first two just walked by the man. This man treated the hurt man the way he would want to be treated, and he will be later rewarded by God for this.
Journal #6
I do not believe that the misconceptions made by Americans about Muslims are fair, because you cannot judge all of them based on what the others do. If we all did that then we would never live in peace because we would be scared of every group of people based on what their extremists do. I think to prevent these misconceptions, we should defend Muslims and only speak positively about other groups.
Theodicy: I believe that God made suffering so that people would be more grateful for what they have. Without suffering life would be perfect, and no one would be satisfied with what they have. Even though no one likes to suffer and it is horrible, I believe that it was made by God so that we would be happier with what we have and overall happier with our lives and our existence.
Destiny: I believe that after we die, most of the people on Earth will go to Heaven if we have not committed any sins. For those of us who have committed sins, we will not go to Heaven instead we will go to Hell. God will grant some people forgiveness for their sins if they ask, unless the sin is so horrible it is unforgivable such as murder.
Ethics: People should live as they want to be treated. They should follow the 10 commandments and be nice to one another. We are all here for a long period of time, and I believe that we should try and make it as pleasant as possible if we wish to live in harmony. We should take care of the Earth and of one another so that we have happier, healthier, and better lives
Me: What was the world like before you created life?
Brahma: it was incredibly dark and lifeless. It was almost sad.
Me: Why did you create life on earth?
Brahma: because the world seemed empty and boring, I decided it was time for a change.
Me: what was it like making your many pilgrimages to the earth?
Brahma: It was different every time I went down, some times were better than others.
5 minute meditation each day HW:
First Day (Friday): I found my 5 minute meditation to be a bit difficult for the first minute or two. After I had settled down from the hustle and bustle of the day, I began thinking about why Mrs. Ortega assigned us this homework. After another minute, I decided that it was because, like the video had said, we needed only 5 minutes a day to sit down and live in the present moment. I thought that that would be very hard, considering our minds don't have an off switch and we can't just automatically stop thinking. Our minds jump from thought to thought, just as mine had been doing right then. I was actually thinking about thinking. I realized, as my time came to an end, that maybe it would be good to do this everyday, if I could remember.
Second Day (Saturday): Today I found it incredibly hard for myself to sit and think for 5 straight minutes. My brothers were at a lacrosse tournament and my family had made me come along, so I ended up doing my homework later than I usually do. As I sat in the hotel room quietly, I began thinking about competitions. I thought about when I was little, and I did gymnastics, I had always wanted to be better than every other little girl in my class. Even though I hadn't particularly enjoyed the sport, I wanted to be the best at it. Even now, when I do some sports or academics I want to be the best, and I find it frustrating when I'm not. I often try and compete with my older brother in academics, even though its not necessary. I enjoy winning, just like most people. I thought about why. I couldn't come up with a reason as to why. I guess I had just always liked it, and it gave me something to strive for. Before I knew it, my time was up, and I had to go back to the business of my day.
Third Day (Sunday): This 5 minute meditation session came very easily to me today. For the first minute I thought, "ok well what will I think up today?". After trying to involve my mind in something and attempt to focus, I realized there was one topic that was constantly coming back up to the surface. It was the topic of people. Particularly people my age. I thought about a certain few, and then realized that I had no interest in wasting my time thinking about them. Instead, I decided to think about all of us in general. I thought about why we do some of the things that we do, or why we act rude, nice, badly, etc. Adults always say that we are trying to "figure ourselves out", which I can see, but in some ways, I really don't. We already know who we kind of are. Just then, I thought something along the lines of this: "I am Sarah Munger, I like sports, school, hanging out with my friends, going to parties and things like that. Your typically average teenager. But then I thought about the unique things about myself: I like to go fishing, I like playing cards and playing with my brothers; I'm a bit loud, I talk a lot, and I like to dance." I am different, and so is everyone in the world. So I reconsidered what adults had said about us "figuring out who we are". Because in a way, we are all figuring out new things about ourselves, not just teenagers. And maybe we'll never find out all of the sides of us, maybe they are to forever remain an enigma. Finally as my last assigned meditation time came to a close, I thought that I should do this more often. I found that it helped me clear my mind and realize that things are a lot easier than they seem.
Journal #4
I do not think that any commandments should be removed or altered, because most of them are rules that should be followed in everyday life. However, I do think there should be a commandment against lying, in order to inspire people not to lie to one another. But, this is my religion so I could not imagine it changed, because the 10 Commandments as they are, are very important to me.
Journal #5
I think the parable that most applies to a time in my life is the Good Samaritan. When I was little, my parents always taught my brothers and I to treat others how we would want to be treated. In the Good Samaritan, the third man stops and takes care of the victim of the robbers. In turn, he will be rewarded in Heaven for this because he did the right thing, whereas the first two just walked by the man. This man treated the hurt man the way he would want to be treated, and he will be later rewarded by God for this.
Journal #6
I do not believe that the misconceptions made by Americans about Muslims are fair, because you cannot judge all of them based on what the others do. If we all did that then we would never live in peace because we would be scared of every group of people based on what their extremists do. I think to prevent these misconceptions, we should defend Muslims and only speak positively about other groups.